He was welcomed by Ganzach Kiddush Hashem president Rabbi David Skulsky, COO Mrs. Rachel Yud, CEO Rabbi Zvi Skulsky, and representatives from the education, archive, teaching, and production teams.
The visit opened with a tour of the unique posters exhibition, in which dozens of posters from the years before and during the war from Germany in particular, and other European countries in general, are portrayed. The exhibition provides an overview of the developments that caused the disastrous events that swept across European Jewry.
As part of the exhibition, the guests viewed a group of terrible caricatures published in those days; documents oozing with blind hatred and uncontrollable murderous lust, which were preserved and deciphered by the professional staff of Ganzach Kiddush Hashem. It is very important that these caricatures be brought to the eyes of the enlightened and free world, which has not yet faced and learned of the power of hatred and in which areas it may deteriorate into.
After the tour of the exhibition, a joint professional meeting was held with the management of Ganzach Kiddush Hashem together with the esteemed guest and his team. During the meeting, the activities of the world’s largest archive of its kind were reviewed. Exciting finds from the museum’s treasures were presented and pieces of evidence were shown as an illustration of the activities of the commemoration and documentation department.
Rabbi Hanoch Seibert, the former mayor of Bnei Brak, gave a speech at this moving meeting. In his words, he reviewed the plans for the building of the Ganzach Kiddush Hashem building in the new and developing northern part of Bnei Brak, and asked the guest to join them in helping the initiative, which, especially in this period, is of inestimable importance.
Rabbi Seibert described the figures of the elders of Bnei Brak whom he grew up with, the chasidic elders who survived the Holocaust, lost their entire world, and then started all over again out of joy and faith. He emotionally described the character of his father, a Holocaust survivor, a beloved chasid who passed away not long ago.
With much attentiveness, the participants heard the words of the Deputy Minister Avi Maoz who in an emotional voice told about his grandfather, a Gerrer chassid, Rabbi Avigdor Baum, after whom he is named.
His stories about the many members of his family who remained “there” made the hearts of the participants tremble. His beautiful words combined sadness and hope: sadness for what we lost and joy for what we were able to rebuild.
In his words, he promised the heads of the management of Ganzach Kiddush Hashem to help as much as he can with Holocaust education, documentation, and commemoration. With positive feelings of devotion to a common goal, the management of Ganzach Kiddush Hashem said goodbye to the esteemed guest and his entourage.
